[Julesanne]

Hi Everyone

Just thought i would ask if it would be a good idea to use a cat or dog flap as a pop hole. I have 5 hens and their nesting box and bedroom is inside a caged off area (large enough for me to walk into). They have a pop hole which is made of strips of flooring, but it's looking old and shabby now and im looking for something better and easier to keep and clean. Do you think they would be easy to open. I dont have any cats or dogs so i don't know how hard they are to push! Maybe this is just the craziest idea i have ever thought of sorry.
Julie

[8doubles]

There`s no reason it shouldn`t work apart from the fact chooks aren`t very bright. The more birds you have the more chance there is that one will stick its head out panic and go into reverse and throttle itself.
If intelligent humans can do it at fire exits with the first whiff of smoke imagine what chooks will do when the flapping starts.

Of course this may never happen but...........

[Caralou]

My chooks use the cat flap to get into the house to the cat food when they escape onto the patio  However, it wouldnt prove predator proof so may not be the safest for the girls 

[dizzylizzie]

Actually 8Doubles, i think you'll find chickens are quite intelligent!
http://www.chickenindustry.com/cfi/intelligence/
http://www.dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=798
 

[wildwitchy]

Many people are surprised just how intelligent they actually are. I know I was when I had mine. I have to hide the worming box when its that time- if they see me doing one, they dissapear!

[8doubles]

Hi Dizzie , i was basing their intelligence on my own observations of domestic hens as i do not know any laboratory chicken owners.

Hi Witchie, There is sometimes one that has more than the average IQ and the rest will copy it. Trouble is they will also copy the dimmest .

[dizzylizzie]

Well my girls are clever

[joyfull]

my girls recognise my van and all come running - but they ignore Jims van - same colour but bigger, and they ignore the posties van - same shape but different colour. If they see my van and come running but Jim is driving it they all then walk away and look really dissapointed as he isn't the corn lady  So I think they are all clever girls and boys 

[Spana]

If you've ever had Guinea Fowl you will know you need a large flock of them to get one brain cell thats shared between them They make chickens look like scientists

[lucylou]

my hens are really stupid - thats what makes them so funny, im on the same wavelength as my girls

[dizzylizzie]

What hens do you have? I was thinking about this after i posted that my girls are clever, and i do think they are....but... my buff orp is ....well...not so clever , all the others are, especially my ex-batts....clever little things they are

[Caralou]

Well, my chooks certainly have more brains than my ducks - but my ducks are very stupid so that isn't saying much about the intelligence of the chooks  

[wildwitchy]

I think I order of lack of brains of poultry I keep I'd say Ducks (Now they are dim, ive got to agree with caralou), most chickens, except my leghorns- they are just mental, then geese-they are more intelligent than my teenage son but then that doesn't take much!